The Legend of the Enchanted Ring …

This is a story that takes place in winter. Long, long ago, lived a very poor family of seven children. Every day, the six boys and their little sister went into the countryside to collect chestnuts. One day, when there were no more chestnuts to collect, the youngest brother decided to go and search for fortune, alone. After a few days of walking, he spotted an isolated house beside Pardina. He was hungry and thirsty, and very tired .. he knocked on the door. A beautiful woman opened, and bid him to enter – he didn’t know, that this beautiful woman was in fact, a wicked fairy disguised.

Then she dropped a gold ring at the young boy’s feet, which he picked up immediately and put it on his finger. Instantly, his body was covered in hair, and horns grew on his head – the wicked fairy who had transformed him into a billy goat, then locked him up in the cellar, with fresh grass for his supper.

Feeling quite desperate, the young boy wondered if his brothers and sister would come to liberate him from the horrible witch. Days went by .. the eldest of the brothers being very worried about his absence, decided to go and look for him.

After a few days of walking, he spotted the isolated house beside Pardina. He too was tired, hungry and thirsty, so he knocked on the door. Once again, the beautiful woman opened the door and bid him to enter. And once again, she dropped a gold ring at the boy’s feet, which he quickly grasped and put on his finger – likewise, he became a billy goat and was locked up in the cellar with his brother. And so the story goes, the four remaining brothers followed the footsteps of their two brothers, and fell into the witches’ trap … only Lisandra their little sister was left.

One beautiful morning, Lisandra decided to go and search for her brothers, as she loved them dearly indeed. On the way, she heard the cry of a bird – approaching the bramble bush within which he was caught, she gently and slowly set him free. Later on, she met an old woman who seemed very tired. Lisandra shared some of the little food she had with her. It was then that the old woman transformed herself into a fairy, and thanking her she showed Lisandra where her brothers were locked up. After having walked for a very long time, she finally arrived in front of the house and knocked on the door. The wicked fairy disguised as a beautiful woman opened the door, and had her enter. As usual, she dropped the golden ring, and Lisandra stooped to pick it up .. but, the bird she had saved a few days earlier came in through the window and took the ring in his beak and carried it away, whispering to the ear of the young girl ‘above all, accept nothing from the fairy’. Now the fairy was very upset seeing the ring had been stolen, so she asked Lisandra if she was hungry – the little girl politely replied ‘no’. The wicked fairy insisted, she wished to give her a present, but the answer was again ‘no, thank you’.

Night fell slowly in the forest, and the wicked fairy fell asleep – the bird returned.

He woke up Lisandra who, following his advice, knocked out the wicked fairy, took her magic wand and went immediately to set her brothers free from the wicked spell that the witch had cast upon them. They all returned to their village, thanks to the magic wand and became rich and happy.

However, one day Lisandra forgot the magic wand under a chestnut tree, and a vagrant who was passing by picked it up and kept it. Lisandra was shattered, and died of grief … her brothers went in search of the thief, but even today, they still have not returned.